Turning Point
by missa1
Summary: Yaoi. T for now, rating will change. RuHana, YoRyo, Mitko, etc. The daily lives of the Shohoku team past and present in modern day society as they try to deal with love, hate, and life. On Hiatus.
1. Something Unpredictable

Author: Missa

Title: Turning Point

Pairings: Eventual: RuHana, YoRyo, established MitKo, possibly more to come.

Warnings: R rated for adult themes though non graphic. Yaoi, possible Yuri and Het, Angst and Sap.

Read AN for details. 

Chapter One:

Rukawa was bored. Being bored was something that he was used to; after all he didn't sleep all the time just because he could. However this time it was different. He was bored with basketball. Not with the sport itself, but with the All Japan team. It was the tedium of the drills, the lack of comrades, the lack of noise, and all the small things that he enjoyed – until he had joined the Shohoku team. Being on that team had changed him greatly even if he didn't show it. It wasn't the team itself that changed him, but the people on it. Rukawa had become accustomed to chaos and now he craved it, which was why he spent his free time running at the beach where Sakuragi could see him. The loud vocal yells broke the boredom in addition to pissing the do'aho off, which he enjoyed immensely. Not that making Sakuragi angry was a good thing, but his reactions always brought a smile to Rukawa (even if it never broke the surface of his face) because he didn't like seeing Sakuragi laid up and quiet. He wasn't made to be quiet.

Rukawa used that excuse every time he felt the need to see the do'aho. Of course it didn't explain the reason his eyes wandered over Sakuragi's body whenever he saw him. It didn't explain why he had to look in the first place or the shortness of breath when he did get a good view. Even if he didn't have a reason or an explanation it didn't stop him from the need to run by Sakuragi, the need to tease him and the need to admire the view. That need was the reason that Rukawa was running down the beach now. The need was the reason his eyes purposefully scanned the surrounding area for a certain red head. It was the reason he kept running down the beach even though he had long ago passed the area Sakuragi usually was. When a need is denied it can turn into an ugly thing. Disappointment filled Rukawa as he turned and ran back the way he came, wondering where Sakuragi was.

Hanamichi always though that he had a good tolerance for pain. Getting into fights, having your head bashed in with a mop, Akagi's fist and Ayako's fan should have helped him become immune to pain. Of course, none of those things could compare to his injured back. He thought his physical therapy was going well, but there were always those days where he thought he would be over powered by the pain. It wasn't that he hated the physical pain, but on those days it was like for every step forward he took in his recovery, he was taking two steps back. Those were the days where he didn't want to face the world, where he just wanted the pain to go away. He didn't like not being able to do anything.

He leaned against the metal basketball pole and took a few deep breaths. He wasn't going to let himself get depressed again, because then he would use the pain as a release like he used to. 'So what if I rarely see my friends,' he thought. 'They still take the time to come visit me. They still write and keep me updated. Sure, sometimes it upsets me that I can't be there and reading about what they're doing hurts, but they're telling me everything now so that when I go back I'll be up to date. They don't have to do anything but because they care they do.' That thought made Hanamichi happy. He really was lucky to have such great friends.

As he slowly calmed down he let his mind drift back, replaying the even that occurred in the Inter High tournament; the wins, the losses, the mistakes and the surprises. That entire season had started shaping him into a person he never thought he'd be. He founding himself smiling at the memories, they were the few of the good ones he had. Slowly he let the soft breeze and fresh air lull him to sleep, a sleep which had been evading him more and more often since he started his recovery. His last thought before dreams and reality blurred was of Rukawa. 'At least I sleep against things, not riding a bike.'

Jogging down a street, Rukawa sneezed.

At the same time that Hanamichi was enjoying his impromptu nap, inside the hospital's physical therapy room his doctors were discussing Hanamichi's recovery and therapy.

"His overall rehabilitation is going slower than expected," a man said, looking through a couple notes on his desk. "Are there any thoughts on why that might be?"

"Well doctor Liang, Hanamichi is doing all of his required therapy and responding quite well to it. He's actually doing far better than we anticipated. Do have the file on the medication he's taking? We knew at the start that there was the possibility that his previous medicine could cause flair ups and slow down the process, but there is not much we can do about that."

"Why is that," Doctor Liang asked. "If he has conflicting medication then just change them."

"We're not certain that would be wise at this point sir," the therapist said. "I realize that you are not his normal doctor so if you'll take a moment with me to go over some files, you'll be able to see why we've stuck wit the medication he has now instead of changing it or taking him off it."

"Very well, perhaps we won't change his medication right now, but if the reasons aren't good enough to keep him on them, I will change them. The longer he stays here recuperating the quicker his insurance runs out. He does have limited insurance."

"That shouldn't be a problem at all. There are many people willing to finance his recovery. Regardless, here is a list of the medication Sakuragi takes," a sheet of paper was handed to the doctor.

The doctor raised his eyebrow. "Why wasn't this placed at the top of the file?"

"Since the anti-depressant and the anti-inflammatory can be used in conjunction with each other it wasn't seen as too big of a threat. It was in the file, but not at the top."

"Why not take him off of the anti-depressant for a few weeks or months while he completes his recover?"

"The psychiatrist feels that taking Mr. Sakuragi off of them at this time would cause more damage to the patient than having a longer physical recovery. The basis of that is because he is not in a normal environment as well as not around friends. It's not like he really has anything to do to keep himself occupied," the therapist explained.

The doctor sighed, "Very well. We will keep things are they are for the next week, but if there isn't improvement we'll need to consider the option of taking him off the anti-depressant. After all, the longer he's in recovery the more depressed he'll become."

Hanamichi was having a pleasant dream about basketball. He was practicing with the Shohoku team and they were getting ready for the IH tournament. Every shot he made went through the hoop, hitting nothing but net. Haruko was staring at him with admiration and – was that a hint of love in her eyes? Hanamichi grinned, "No one can beat the tensai! Nyahahahaha!"

"Do'aho."

"Who's the do'aho you kitsune!" Hanamichi turned to stare at Rukawa.

"Do'aho."

Hanamichi grabbed the basketball that appeared in Rukawa's hands, "Watch this kitsune!" Hanamichi raced towards the basket and did a perfect slam dunk, but as he landed pain shot up his back. "Itai!"

"Oi! Do'aho!"

Hanamichi's eyes snapped open and he instantly grimaced in pain. "Itai…"

Hands touched his back tentatively, "Do'aho, where does it hurt?"

"Kitsune! Teme!" Hanamichi tried to jump up but more pain shot up his back. "Kuso."

"Don't move do'aho. Your back cramped up because you fell asleep against the pole.

Hanamichi felt his temper rising, 'Stupid back,' he thought. 'Now that kitsune will know that the tensai is not perfect... but it hurts and the kitsune is being nice….' His temper abruptly went back to normal levels. That lasted until he felt his back being massaged. "Kit-kitsune, what are you doing?" he asked in shock.

'Feeling you up,' was the thought that popped into Rukawa's head, what came out of his mouth was different. "I'm massaging the cramp out. It's less painful this way, since the cramp doesn't last as long."

Hanamichi blinked, "How do you know that?"

"Do'aho. With as much as I fall asleep I was bound to get a cramp sometime. The first one I got was when I fell asleep riding my bike."

"So who gave you your massages? You fall asleep all the time, you must have had a million cramps," Hanamichi said, trying to ignore the feeling of Rukawa's hands on his back and the strange sensations they were causing him to feel.

"No one." The answer held no emotion in it, just a simple stated fact.

Hanamichi couldn't believe that answer and for some reason he felt like he had to make Rukawa feel better. "Ah…well at least right now you get to play basketball and you can visit Shohoku. They won't let me visit because I'll end up playing or hurting my back again.

"Sounds boring. Is your back better?" Still there was no detectable trace of emotion in Rukawa's voice. It was as if he were deliberately trying to not show any outward sign of emotion.

Hanamichi moved his shoulders and twisted side to side. "Yeah, um…thanks."

"Hn," Rukawa stood up and pulled his basketball out of his bag and started dribbling. Hanamichi looked at the basketball longingly and stood. "Well I better go back; I think I missed my treatment because I slept too long. Thanks again." Hanamichi put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the court and through the gate.

Rukawa lifted his shoulders in a shrug, the only outward sign that he noticed Sakuragi's departure. After a dew warm up shots he began practicing in earnest. Sakuragi watched for about five minutes before his hands clenched into fists and he continued on his way. 'I will play basketball again, was the only thought going through his mind.

Rukawa concentrated on his practice – his other need fulfilled for the moment, though he did not know when it would come back, or how strong it would be. He would deal with it one day, no, one feeling at a time.


	2. Strange Misgivings

Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Haruko bashing is intended, though in this chapter it may seem that way. The girl's just dense. Apologies for the delay in getting this out, I was working on Paw Print and writing a Digimon fic. 

Chapter Two:

"Okay, 50 sprints around the court," Ryota yelled taking the lead at the front of the group.

Haruko and Ayako watched from the bench, while looking over statistical sheets. On the sheet it held the statistics for the IH tournament the year before for all the players that participated, not only Shohoku's individual stats, but the stats for all the teams that participated.

"It's wonderful that Shohoku showed such a strong performance in the IH last year," Ayako said, looking over the sheet, "Four of our team were in the top 15 for many categories (Ryota, Akagi, Mitsui and Rukawa), and Sakuragi was the individual leader in rebounds. We did great last year better than ever before, but this year is looking a little bit rough. We've lost Akagi and Mitsui, Sakuragi is still injured, and Rukawa is still practicing with the All Japan team, though he should be back in time for the start of the season…so right now Ryota is our best chance at victory."

"Now that Kainan and Shoyo's point guards have graduated, it does make Ryota the number one point guard in Kangawa," mused Haruko. She glanced sideways Ayako, "You do know he's going to ask you again soon. That was the condition you set. Or are you going to change the stakes again?"

Ayako blew out a breath of frustration. "I don't know. I know what I should do, but I don't want to hurt his feelings. I didn't expect him to reach number one so fast."

"Do you think stringing him along is any less painful? Giving someone false hope is a cruel thing to do, especially when there is no hope," Haruko watched Ryota leading the team through stretching exercises. "You should tell him soon so that he can move on with life and you and my brother can stop hiding your relationship."

"You really shouldn't speak to one about false hope, considering Sakuragi's crush on you," Ayako returned, mentally she added, 'and your crush on Rukawa'.

Haruko laughed sweetly. "Sakuragi-san doesn't have a crush on me. We're just really good friends!" Haruko smiled sweetly, as usual completely oblivious. "I can't remember how many times that Rukawa is the one I love. Sakuragi has never said or done anything other than being such a good friend."

"I don't know how to break it to you any more gently, but Sakuragi is deeply in love with you. I just wish you would trust me on that. You know how many times he's been dumped. Do you honestly think he could come right out and tell you his feelings?" Ayako asked. Haruko opened her mouth to respond but Ayako continued before she could. "Imagine it this way. You have a crush on Rukawa; sorry I mean that you've been in love with Rukawa for a long time. Now would it hurt more if you had already confronted him and he turned you down, or if you confronted him sometime in the future and he turned you down? That is assuming that he turned you down of course."

Haruko jumped up, "That's not going to happen! My Rukawa loves me back! He's just shy is all," she yelled.

Ayako raised her hands in a placating gesture, "Forget I said anything then. I'll deal with my own problems my way and you better prepare yourself to face reality in your own way."

Haruko sat down with a slight pout on her face and changed the topic, "So which of the rookies do you think will surprise us this year?"

* * *

Meanwhile up in the stands, the Gundai was cheering on the basketball practice. They had promised Sakuragi that they would tell him if anyone was going to try and take his place as the Tensai. Yohei knew better than to tell Hanamichi anything because then he would break doctors' orders and start practicing again. Still he went because he had promised his best friend. He could tell that while the team was just beginning it had a lot of potential to grow and that came from the tremendous leadership that Ryota was already displaying. 

Yohei looked over at Haruko and Ayako who seemed to be in a deep conversation, he could already tell what it was about from the way they were glancing at Ryota and especially when Haruko had shouted. The whole of the basketball team probably did as well, unless they were incredibly dense.

He knew what Haruko was doing to Hanamichi and while he didn't like it, he couldn't be angry about it. After all, he was pretty sure that Haruko would get burned herself if she ever confronted Rukawa, but Ayako was a different matter.

Yohei sighed, it was one thing to be pining for someone while another was pining for you, but to be stringing someone along when you already had a boyfriend…that was something Yohei couldn't stand. Especially since Ryota was in some aspects similar to Hanamichi.

Yohei knew that he didn't do a great job helping his best friend after all his rejections, especially once he found out Hanamichi had depression, but perhaps when the time came he would be able to help Ryota pick up the pieces of his heart and help mend them. Yohei watched Ryota make another steal on the court and thought, 'I really hope so.'

Yohei allowed his thoughts to wander away from Ryota and back to Hanamichi. 'I wonder how Hanamichi is doing? I haven't been to visit him in a little more than a week. I should give him a call since I won't have the money to see him until next week.' Yohei thought about it for a few more minutes and decided that was what he was going to do.

Practice continued on at a good pace and Yohei decided to watch it instead of thinking about what may come in the future. Well, at least he was watching the speediest person at the practice. Yohei wasn't sure why he was so interested in Ryota, it could be worry or admiration, he didn't know. All he was sure of was that he was interested and there was nothing he could or wanted to do about it.

* * *

Practice ended and the boys hit the showers in a hurry. Ryota felt refreshed. It had been a long while since he had felt good after a practice. He leaned his forehead against the cool tile of the wall and let the hot shower pound on his back. He was not in any hurry tonight. Since it was still the first week of practices he had decided to give his teammates a break and take care of the clean ups after practices. It was good for him because it gave him the chance for extra practice. 

He knew he was now the best point guard in Kangawa, but he wanted to be the best in Japan. It was partially because he knew Ayako would again change the stakes for him to date her, but also for himself. He knew he was a lot like Sakuragi in regards to basketball. Both of them joined for a girl and both now loved the sport, more than they did the girl. Ryota was proud of the fact that he was no longer playing basketball for Ayako, but for himself and only himself. With that thought in mind, Ryota turned off the shower and changed into a loose pair of sweat pants and a muscle shirt. He left the locker room and headed back to the court to do the clean up. He would do his practicing on one of the outside courts tonight.

As he neared the supply closet he noticed a figure holding the broom. It took him a moment to figure out who it was before recognition set in. It was Sakuragi's friend Mito Yohei. He looked around for the rest of the gang that Yohei and Sakuragi hung out with, but didn't see them, "Mito-san, what are you doing here and why are you holding that broom? You're not part of the team so you don't need to help with the clean up." He paused for a moment thinking and then continued. "Actually, you shouldn't be here at all." He held out his hand for the broom but Yohei did not give it to him.

"Honestly? Well I'm so used to helping Hanamichi out that it's become habit. Last season this was typically his day for clean up. Guess its just force of habit," Yohei responded before handing over the broom. "Besides," he continued, "It's too big of a job for someone to do alone."

Ryota thought about it for a moment. 'I could use the help and it would mean that I would have more time to practice afterwards.' He handed the broom back to Yohei. "All right," he said, "You sweep while I clean the balls."

Yohei nodded a small smirk on his face. 'A lot like Hanamichi,' he thought. "Why aren't you having someone help you," he asked as he started sweeping.

Ryota chose not to answer but asked a question of his own, "You said that you helped Sakuragi clean before but he always had another team member helping him. Why did you help?"

Yohei noticed the diversion but let it slide for now. "Rukawa was always the one helping Hanamichi. Do you honestly believe that he would stay awake long enough to do the clean up?"

"Ah you have a point there," Ryota said, "but why help him?"

Yohei looked at Ryota like he was a moron. "Because he's my friend and friends should help each other when they can. He also can't stand being alone…" Yohei closed his mouth and thought fast. "You have to admit; his personality craves people and attracts them like flies." Yohei grimaced at the image of hundreds of flies swarming around Hanamichi.

"I guess you're right," Ryota said finishing up the last ball. He had caught the slight difference in Yohei's voice and decided to be nosey. "Sakuragi must be going nuts or at least driving the hospital staff nuts." He watched Yohei's face out of the corner of his eye and saw a flicker of worry pass though his eyes before he was able to mask it. After a few minutes of silence Ryota walked over to Yohei and stood in his path, "Mito-san, Sakuragi is all right, isn't he?"

Yohei snapped out of his daze. "Yeah he's probably doing well. He was fine when I saw him last week. I'm supposed to call him tomorrow; do you want me to tell him you said 'hi'?"

"That would be nice, thanks," Ryota decided to drop the issue for now, but he had a feeling it was going to come back up sometime. "The sweeping is pretty much done if you want to go. I'll do the mopping in the morning after I do early practice."

"Yeah I need to do homework any way. Have a good night Miyagi-san," Yohei walked leisurely towards the door and then out into the night. He kept berating himself because he hadn't done what he had set out to do. 'I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell him about Ayako. That was the whole point of talking to him. I guess I'll tell him if Ayako doesn't.' Yohei once again put the thought out of his mind and replaced it with another one. 'He really looks good in loose sweat pants, even if his hair is still almost mushroom shaped even when wet.'

Ryota watched Yohei until he was out of sight and then went to the locker room to get his stuff before locking up for the night. He made up his mind to check on Sakuragi tomorrow after practice, especially after seeing the concerned look in Yohei's eyes.

As he walked to the nearest outside court he let his mind wander over his friendship with Sakuragi. The initial fight with him when he thought Sakuragi was after Ayako. Their talk in the part where Sakuragi understood him and didn't laugh at him and never told others of their conversation. How he defended Ryota when Mitsui's gang came to beat up on the team. How Sakuragi always defended him when others called him a shrimp, even though Sakuragi always called him that himself. And how had he repaid that friendship? He hadn't. 'It's time to make up for that lapse now,' Ryota thought as he continued on his way.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Nope still don't own it.

AN: Sorry for the delay. I have some good reasons, but well it's not an excuse. Hope you enjoy the chapter. It's long. There's been too few yaoi fics lately.

Not proof read as usual. 

**Chapter Three**

* * *

'Today was a weird day,' Hanamichi thought, 'Weird but good. It definitely made up for yesterday.' First Yohei had called unexpectedly, and it had been a pretty weird conversation, he recalled. 

"Yohei, what's up?" Hanamichi said after he picked up the phone in his room, "Why are you calling?" 

"Hey Hana, how's it going? Do I really need a reason to call you?" 

"Guess not," Hanamichi said sheepishly, "The tensai is dong great today!" 

"That's good to hear. So what's been happening? The evil doctors' say anything about when you'll be out?" Yohei asked. 

"Nah, nothing on that yet, but I'm supposed to be having a meeting with them this Friday," Hanamichi's voice was filled with hope. 

"That's wonderful news! I was planning on coming down Saturday to keep you company. Maybe I'll be coming down t move you back home instead! So anything else happen?" 

There was a slight pause before Sakuragi answered. "Yeah there was and it was really weird too. You know how the All Japan team practices in this area?" Without waiting for a response Sakuragi continued, "Well I usually see the kitsune running on the beach…" Sakuragi trailed off suddenly aware that he was actually nervous talking to Yohei about this and he wasn't quite sure why. 

"Yeah, you've told me about that before. He runs past, you yell at him and he ignores you. What's so new about that?" Yohei asked confused. 

"I was getting to that! The tensai had to gather his thoughts was all," Sakuragi said indignantly into the phone. 

"Right, right, sorry for interrupting your thinking tensai," Yohei joked, "Continue on please." 

"As I was saying then, I didn't go to the beach because I was feeling down and instead I went-," Sakuragi was interrupted by Yohei. 

"You've been taking your pills, right?" Yohei had abruptly snapped to attention and was about to go into a tirade before he was cut off himself. 

"Yes mother, I'm taking them. I'm not completely stupid you know," Sakuragi said sarcastically. 

"So sue me for worrying," Yohei said without a hint of regret in his voice. 

"If you had enough money I would. Anyways, I went to the basketball court near here and before you interrupt, not I did not play," Sakuragi could practically hear Yohei snapping his mouth shut, "It was relaxing so I took a nap. I guess I napped longer than I should have coz the next I knew it was dark and the kitsune was there waking me up." Sakuragi paused yet again, trying to figure out how to word the next part. 

Yohei waited for him to continue but thought to himself, 'That's weird for Rukawa. Unless…' He cut that train of thought off until he had more information. 

Sakuragi continued, "When I woke up I had this horrible cramp in my back from sleeping sitting up and the kitsune massaged it out. It freaked me out coz he did it without asking! That wasn't the strangest thing though, he well... he talked to me." 

"Did you start the conversation, or did he?" Yohei asked intrigued. 

"He did! That's what made it so weird," Sakuragi said. He tried moving his phone to the other ear but he phone cord was tangled around his hand. 

'Okay, play it cool Yohei. Hana sounds stressed as t is, let's not make a big deal out of nothing.' He cleared his throat, "Maybe he's learning to act like a human being Hana. You know better than anyone how people can change." 

"Mah…I guess you could be right, except when he passes by me on the beach now he talks to me and ignore his teammates when they pass by," Sakuragi responded doubtfully. 

"Okay so that's definitely weird," Yohei said. He thought for a minute. "Did you ever think that he might be trying to put this stupid rivalry you two have behind him? Would having him as a friend really be that bad?" 

"But he's the kitsune!" 

"Yeah he's the kitsune who never really started your fights, the one who actually started passing the ball to you. You know when he did that it was probably his way of telling you that he respected your abilities," Yohei was losing his patience with himself for having to find the right wording and also with Hanamichi for being s childish all the time. He had a feeling what about what Rukawa was really doing, but he knew that Hanamichi wasn't ready to hear that…yet. 

Sakuragi thought for a moment on what Yohei said and s much s he hated to admit it, Yohei was right. Suddenly he felt like dirt. "So I guess that means it's time for me to stop and make an effort too," Sakuragi didn't sound too thrilled with the idea. 

"You're smarter than you seem," Yohei teased, glad that part of the conversation was over. "Some interesting things have been happening over here if you want to hear about them," Yohei offered. 

"Well it's not like I'm going anywhere until my therapy session, so spill the dirt! How many times has the Gundai been kicked out of the Pachinko parlor?" 

Yohei laughed, "Only three times from what I heard, but that wasn't what I wanted to tell you. Actually I shouldn't be telling you this but you're the tensai, right?" 

"Anything you say the tensai can handle!" Sakuragi said with confidence. He already had a feeling it had to do with Haruko; it was something that he had come to terms with mostly at his stay I the clinic. 

"Well yesterday at practice Ayako and Haruko were talking about the mushroom head. I guess the discussion got heated because Haruko yelled that and I do quote, "'My Rukawa loves me,'" loud enough for everyone to hear." Yohei waited for a response to his announcement and was surprised when it was given. 

"That's all?" 

"Okay that was not the response I was expecting Hana. Where's there real Hana?" Yohei felt himself start to go into a state of shock. The last time he had talked to Hana he had been gushing over Haruko's latest letter and that had only been a few weeks ago. 

"You know, it's one thing to see her stare at him dreamily every once in a while, but completely different when you get lots of letters and half the letter is about Rukawa and every time his name is written there are hearts around it. Kinda drive the point home and is just as effective as a 'no' would be," Hana said softly into the receiver. 

Now it was Yohei's turn to feel like dirt. His best friend had been dumped again and hadn't even trusted him enough to tell him. "Hana…" 

"I'm okay with it Yohei. The tensai wasn't as blind as he, I mean, I made myself out to be and the pills are helping too." Sakuragi knew that Yohei was probably getting ready to blow a gasket at Haruko and that was something the he definitely did not want to happen. "You said there were talking about Ryo-chin?" Sakuragi asked to turn the subject away from him. 

"Yeah, I did. I think it was about the crush he has on Ayako. You remember how she said shoe would go out with him once he was the number one point guard in Kangawa?" 

"Yeah, I think everyone knows about that," Sakuragi said. 

"Well he's number one now and I know for a fact that she is stringing him along," Yohei said angrily. He couldn't help the anger; it surfaced every time he thought about it. 

"Whoa, Yohei calm down man! Why do you think she's playing him and why do you care?" It wasn't that Sakuragi didn't care about the situation he was just worried about Yohei's anger. Yohei was pretty good at hiding his anger. 

"I know because I saw her and the gorilla kissing in the movie theatre a month ago. Haruko was with them and she saw me. Later she told me that the gorilla and Ayako had been dating for a year," Yohei was close to losing his temper again, Hana could hear it in his voice. 

"No one has told him have they?" Sakuragi asked, his heart going out to Ryota. 

"No, I tried to do it last night but I couldn't." 

"Why not," Sakuragi asked, his voice filled with confusion. 

"Because I like him too much to hurt him like that, I didn't want to be the one who got the backlash of his initial anger. I couldn't stand to see him hurt," Yohei said making one of his very few confessions to Sakuragi. The last one had been telling Sakuragi that he was bisexual. 

'Yohei…' Sakuragi took a deep breath to calm himself. For once his friend needed his help and not the other way around, and he always came through for his friends. "That is a good reason not to tell him Yohei, don't think otherwise. I'm pretty sure he's going to find out sooner rather than later. I remember him telling Mitch at the Inter High tournament that the next time he asked her out it would be the last time, so it's bound to happen soon." 

"For once Hana you're right. Since I can't bring myself to interfere with it I'll have to wait it play out and be there as a friend when it happens," Yohei wasn't sure he could put his words into practice, but he didn't want to worry Sakuragi any more than he already had. 

"That's the spirit! So how long have you liked him?" Sakuragi asked curiously. 

"Ah, not sure when the attraction I had for him turned in what I feel now, but I was attracted to him that time the Gundai tried to fight him and I wouldn't let them," Yohei admitted. 

"That's a long time," Sakuragi glanced at the clock, "I have therapy in five minutes Yohei is it okay if I let you go now?" 

Yohei looked at his clock, "I'm late for school but that's nothing new. Go on and get yourself healed. I have a test I can't miss in an hour anyways. I'll see you on Saturday!" Yohei hung up the phone and sprinted to school. He did feel better after talking to Hana. 

After that Hana had done his therapy, which was still painful for him, he ate lunch and went for a swim (which was recommended by his therapist, though he hadn't meant the ocean) and then took a shower. 

When he got out of the shower he found Ryota waiting in his room. He had obviously forgotten to lock the door. "Ryo-chin! What brings you to see the tensai?" Sakuragi asked in surprise. 

"I felt like visiting the beach," Ryota said shrugging. He wasn't going to tell Sakuragi the real reason he was there, at least not yet. 

"But there's a beach closer to Kangawa," Sakuragi said in confusion, he looked at Ryota, "You shouldn't lie to the tensai." 

"Fine, I hadn't visited you yet and I wanted to see how you were doing. When I talked to Mito-san last night he seemed kind of worried about you, even though he was trying to hide it. So I decided to be nosy," Ryota tried to make light of what he had said, but failed miserably. "Besides, I'm your closest friend on the team and you know it. Who else is going to be the one to get you back up to your normal tensai level when you get back?" 

"Well sorry you had to come all this way since I'm perfectly fine. Yohei's been stressed lately and probably over-reacted," Sakuragi put a hand behind his head sheepishly, "but I'm still a tensai and I don't need your help." 

"Well even if it was over-reacting it was long past due for me to visit you. We're teammates, right?" Ryota said, trying not to let himself feel like a fool. 

"Saa," Sakuragi shrugged, "It's cool! The tensai's always up for visitors! Nyahahaha! 

"So that do you do around here for fun?" Ryota asked already fidgeting. 

Hana thought for a few minutes, "Tease the kitsune." 

"Rukawa is here?" Ryota asked. "I didn't know the All Japan team was practicing in this area." 

"Yep, he should be running down the beach in about an hour if you want to talk wit him," Sakuragi said. 

"Yeah, I think I'll do that later. I haven't seen him in a while either," Ryota said. "So how's the back doing? Any idea when you're gonna be back on the team?" 

"Not sure how things are progressing with my back, but I do have a meting with the doctors on Friday and I'm hoping the tensai will be back in action!" Sakuragi was practically bouncing in excitement of the idea. 

"That's great to hear, Hanamichi! It'll be great to have you back, just don't be surprised when Aya-chan makes you go through all the basics again," Ryota had an evil look on his face as he waited for Sakuragi's reaction. 

"What! The tensai's too good for basic training again! Why the tensai is still going to be number one on the team!" 

Ryota grinned and tuned Sakuragi out as he continued to complain loudly. 'Yep, he hasn't changed a bit. He's still insanely arrogant and loud.' Ryota looked over at Sakuragi who was still raving. 'Definitely missed this at practice, it's so routine now.' He continued thinking for a few minutes until he heard Sakuragi's rant beginning to taper off. 

"So how is the team doing?" Sakuragi asked, trying to make any sort of conversation. He just wasn't used to being around only one person, unless it was Yohei or Haruko. The one thing he detested the most was uncomfortable silences, which is why he tended to always hang out in groups. 

"Really ragged," Ryota scrubbed a hand over his face, "Right now we could probably beat a couple of the lower seeded teams, but nothing higher. Partially because it's still so early in the season, but also because we're working with a very young team." 

"It's because the tensai is not there, Nyahahaha!" 

'His laugh is still annoying as ever,' Ryota thought to himself. "It would be great if we had more members from last year back, but we'll have to make due until you and Rukawa return." 

"Baka kitsune…" Sakuragi muttered. 

Ryota sighed, 'Apparently that hasn't changed either.' Out loud he said, "Why don't you try to get along with Rukawa? If you two worked together on the court more you'd be unstoppable." 

"Don't want to." 

Ryota shrugged, "It's just something to keep in mind." 

Sakuragi changed the subject; he was still thinking about the conversation that he had with Yohei that morning and he knew someone would have to tell Ryota about Ayako. "So you said that Yohei seemed worried last night…" 

"Well he seemed worried and distracted I guess. I don't know him well enough to really judge that. I thought it was about you. Of course I could have been imagining things," Ryota responded. 

"Actually you weren't," Sakuragi glanced at Ryota. "I know that Yohei is worried about me, but when I talked with him this morning he told me another reason he was acting weird and it has to do with you." He glanced at Ryota to see his facial expression, but only saw confusion. 

"What has to do with me?" Ryota asked perplexed. 

"You have to promise to let me talk Ryo-chin and to not get mad at Yohei. It's not his fault and he doesn't know I'm telling you," Hanamichi said with a very serious voice. 

"This is confusing as hell, but you've got my attention," Ryota said still puzzled. 

"Okay," Hanamichi thought for a minute and then spoke, "I guess the easiest way to say this is bluntly. Ayako has been dating Gori for almost a year. Yohei found out and was gonna tell you but since he likes you he couldn't tell you because he doesn't want to see you hurt and he thought you'd blame him or something," Hanamichi said as fast as possible and in the least confusing way he could manage. Unfortunately, it still came out confusing. He waited for Ryota's reactions, his muscles tightening in anticipation of whatever was to come. 

Ryota was sure he had misheard Hanamichi. There was just no way… "I don't think I heard you right. Aya-chan is dating Akagi?" 

"Yes. I'm sorry Ryo-chin." 

It took another moment for it to sink in and then Ryota starting looking for answers. "There's no way that can be true, none at all. Aya-chan is not dating Akagi! How did Yohei find this out?" Ryota was quickly losing control of his temper. 

"Yohei saw them together at the movie theatre and Haruko-chan told him everything," Sakuragi said, knowing that the truth was definitely going to hurt, "Yohei does not lie, Ryo-chin." 

Ryota continued to look for excuses. "Friends go to the movies all the time and it doesn't mean anything. Perhaps Haruko misunderstood!" Denial had a solid grip on Ryota's mind. 

Hanamichi had a feeling the conversation was not going to go anywhere, so he said the one thing that he knew would hurt the most, but would also get Ryota past his stubborn mental block. "Friends don't share a 10 minute lip lock Ryo-chin," he said sadly. 

The sentence had the effect Hanamichi thought it would. He could see Ryota's eyes go wide and almost see the gears in his head turning. He waited for some other reaction, which wasn't long in coming. 

Ryota jumped towards him and Hanamichi knew that his friends needed to work off a little steam, which he was more than willing to assist with. Besides, he hadn't had a good fight in a while. He let Ryota take the first punch and when his jaw exploded in pain he retaliated with a punch of his own, though not at full power since he didn't want to strain his back. 

The fight raged on for a full five minutes until Ryota worked out his initial rage and slid to the floor leaning against the bed. 

"Feel any better, Ryo-chin?" Hanamichi panted, trying to catch his breath. 

"Damn it all!" Ryota yelled. He looked up at Hanamichi and saw the multiple bruises starting to form. "Sorry Hanamichi, I didn't mean to take it out on you. Are you all right?" Now Ryota was starting to feel bad about taking his anger out on his friend. 

"I gave just as good as I got. Besides, I was expecting it. I did the same thing to a street lamp when I realized Haruko didn't like me." 

Sakuragi's face brightened in a grin. "Besides, you can't hurt the tensai!" 

Ryota sighed. "I should have realized it without anyone having to tell me. Damn it, I'm so stupid!" Ryota squeezed his eyes shut. He would not cry about this, at least not in front of other people. "Why did you have to be the one to tell me? Why didn't your friend?" 

Hanamichi gestured to some of the bruises on his arm. "Yohei is different than I am. Yeah, he's a fighter, but he never fights with people he likes or considers friends. He would have stood there and just let you smack him around until you felt better because he really likes you. Don't be mad at him for doing the best that he could. Yohei is a great guy, he just does things differently." 

"How can he like me? He doesn't even really know me," Ryota said. 

"He's been watching you for a while. I think he has a bit of a crush on you," Hanamichi grinned mischievously knowing he was pushing the limit. 

Ryota made a choking noise and clutched his head. "This is too much to deal with all at once. This is all just too weird." 

There was nothing but silence for a few minutes until Hanamichi said, "If you want to catch the kitsune you had better leave now. He should be by in the next five minutes." 

Ryota stood. "Yeah, I better go talk to him too. Thanks for telling me Hanamichi, I appreciate it." Ryota walked out of the room, "I'll come by again sometime," he said before closing the door. 

'Damn he punches hard,' Hanamichi thought before going to clean up, again.

* * *

Ryota detoured on his way out of the building to quickly wash his face. He was surprised by the lack of damage as he knew how hard Hanamichi could punch. Still he was starting to get a few bruises but nothing that he thought was major. They were visible, but not too bad. Once he was finished he left the building and squinted as the sunlight hit his eyes. He didn't realize it inside, but Hanamichi kept his room very dark. He waited a bit for his eyes to adjust and sprinted the few block to the beach. Sure enough, just like Hanamichi had said, Rukawa was running slowly down the beach. Ryota could tell he was looking for something or someone from the way his head was turning. 'Probably trying to avoid Hanamichi' Ryota thought mentally snickering. 

"Oi, Rukawa!" he yelled, jogging over the soft sand to where Rukawa had stopped when he had called his name. 

Rukawa inclined his head, "Sempai," he said in acknowledgement, letting his eyes continue to scan the beach. 

"Who are you looking for?" Ryota asked in curiosity. 

"Do'aho," Rukawa responded, his voice clipped, short and precise. 

"Ah. You probably won't run into him today. I just got done visiting him. He's probably nursing the bruises I gave him," Ryota pointed to his own face as well. 

Rukawa looked at Ryota. "What did the do'aho do this time?" "Ah, actually..." Ryota grinned sheepishly, "All he did was tell me something I didn't want to hear and I kinda lost it. He barely fought back, just enough to knock some sense into me. It was like he knew I'd flip and was happy to take a beating if it made me feel better. That baka..." Ryota trailed off when he saw a definite flash of anger in Rukawa's eyes. 

"Is he hurt badly?" Rukawa asked, his ice king features back in place. 

"Nah, you know how tough he is. Before I left he was still acting like his normal lunatic self. But if you wanna check on him, he's in room 308." Ryota had no idea why he was telling Rukawa this, perhaps because the anger seemed to be seeping back into his eyes. 

"Hn," was the only response Rukawa gave Ryota. 

"Well you seem to be busy..." Ryota started to edge away from Rukawa, "And if I don't go now I'll miss my train. Nice seeing ya! Bye!" Ryota took off running still feeling an icy glare on his back. 

"Do'aho," Rukawa changed direction and starting jogging towards Sakuragi's building. 

Rukawa approached Sakuragi's door which was slightly open, but stepped back when he heard Sakuragi arguing loudly with someone. He wouldn't admit to being nosy, but seeing as he didn't want to interrupt, he stayed where he was and waited for the end of the conversation. 

"Damn it Yohei! Yes, I had to tell him. He deserved to know," Hanamichi was silent for a moment, "Oh please, what's a few bruises between friends? I knew how he'd react before I told him." There was another pause. "No you would have just let him beat the crap outta ya. I knew I could take what he dished out, I'm a tensai after all." 

There was a long pause this time and Rukawa actually peeked through the small opening of the door and caught a glimpse of Sakuragi's shirtless back before moving back beside the door where he couldn't be seen. 

"No Yohei, I was not being a masochist, I was just trying to help a friend out. You're trying to drive me insane aren't you?" There was another pause as Sakuragi listened intently on the phone. "Go to hell Yohei," There was definite anger in Sakuragi's voice this time, "Yes; I'm taking my damn pills. You asked me that this morning! Do you honestly believe I could deal with this whole mess without them?" 

Rukawa raised an eyebrow at what he heard and filed it away for later use. He wanted to pay attention to the conversation as it might give him more insight on his obsession. 

Sakuragi sighed in defeat. "You Yohei, I know you nag me because you care, but it's getting really annoying. Now will you be a man and go comfort poor Ryo-chin in his time of need? I'm hungry and I can't talk on the phone and eat at the same time." Sakuragi listened for a few minutes. "Yeah I'll call and tell you what the doctor says on Friday. Don't forget your promise to come down Saturday. See you then." Sakuragi hung up the phone and laid face down on his bed. 

"Insane nit picker," he mumbled into his pillow before rolling back out of the bed. He looked in the mirror in his room and touched a couple of the forming bruises on his face. "The doctors are gonna chew me out for this..." 

Rukawa decided that he had done enough lurking and knocked on the door. 

"Just a minute," Sakuragi called. He quickly pulled on a shirt and walked over to the door and pushed it open completely. "Kitsune! What are you doing here?" He took a step back in surprise. 

Rukawa took that as an invitation to go inside and closed the door behind him. "Miyagi-san asked me to check up on you to make sure you really weren't hurt." A little white lie never hurt. 

"The tensai is perfectly fine so you can go now," Hanamichi had unconsciously taken another step back when Rukawa had come into his room. His brain was so frazzled that he hadn't even thought to yell at Rukawa for entering without permission. 

Rukawa tilted his head slightly to the side, "Are you afraid of me?" He had noticed Hanamichi's steps back and they had puzzled him slightly. 

Hanamichi's response was automatic, "The tensai is afraid of nothing!" 

Rukawa took another step forward and Hanamichi took one back. "Then why do you keep backing away from me?" Rukawa asked. 

Hanamichi's eyes widened as he realized that was exactly what he was doing. "It's not fear kitsune, it's...I don't know. You've been acting weird ever since the night when my back cramped and it freak me out, all right?" Hanamichi couldn't believe he had actually said that out loud. He had planned on just making up some lame excuse but the truth had come out instead. Hanamichi's face went bright red with embarrassment. 

Rukawa shook his head. "I haven't been acting that different at all. The only change is that you're just now noticing the way I am. It's probably because the team isn't here to distract you." 

Sakuragi looked at Rukawa skeptically. 

Rukawa sighed, "Let me look at the cuts and bruises, do'aho so I can tell Miyagi-san that you're fine." In his mind he knew that he just wanted to make sure Hanamichi was all right so he could stop worrying and also because it meant he would get to touch the other boy again. 

"And if I don't let you?" Hanamichi challenged. 

"I'll tell Miyagi-san and he'll probably come down here himself. Or he might tell that Mito guy." Rukawa knew his way around blackmail. 

Hanamichi's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare kitsune." 

Rukawa just stared at Hanamichi silently. 

"Shit," Hanamichi gave in, taking off his shirt since Ryota hadn't only hit his face. "You've got to promise that you'll tell him I'm fine though." 

Rukawa nodded and stepped forward so that he was practically chest to chest with Sakuragi. 

Hanamichi's natural reaction to seeing Rukawa's face so close to his was to close his eyes so his embarrassment wouldn't show. 

Rukawa sighed mentally when Hanamichi had closed his eyes; he had wanted to keep looking at them. Instead of continuing to think about it he started his inspection of Hanamichi's face. To keep Hanamichi from getting any more nervous he made an added effort to talk to him. "Your face doesn't look too bad," he said as his finger brushed against the left side of Hanamichi's lower lip, "You need ice for this or it's going to swell," he took his finger away and continued with the inspection. 

Sakuragi had almost forgotten to breathe the moment Rukawa had touched his lips. He could still feel a tingle where he had been douched and he was trying to bring his heat beat down to a normal pace. He wasn't sure why his body was reacting like this, but there was nothing he could do yet to control it. 

Rukawa made sure not to touch Hanamichi's chest at all during his inspection. He was very sure that if he touched him, there would be no way that he would be able to stop. His will power was almost zero when it came to the red head. 

"You've got quite a few nasty bruises on your chest, but I'm sure you've figured that out all ready." 

"Smart ass," Hanamichi muttered, with his eyes still closed. 

"Just your back now and I can tell Miyagi-san that you're perfect, ah perfectly fine," Rukawa said. He had a slight blush on his cheeks from the almost slip of his tongue. 

"Just hurry it up kitsune, the tensai is getting hungry," Hanamichi lied. He just wanted this whole thing over with so he could do some serious thinking. 

Rukawa's eyes skimmed over Hanamichi's back. "You have a cut here," Rukawa touched the spot, "It's not too bad but it should still be taken care of." His finger roamed over Hanamichi's back until it came to an area with a long pink scar. "Is this where they did the surgery?" It was a bigger incision than he had thought it would be. Unconsciously his finger continued to trace over it. 

"Huh? What? Hanamichi had to quickly gather his thoughts, his mind was all jumbled and his body was tingling again from Rukawa touching him. "Yeah that's where it was." He quickly rushed on, "Clean bill of health now, right?" He tried to keep any embarrassment out of his voice and for once he actually managed it. 

Rukawa pulled his hand away. "Now I'll tell Miyagi-san that he shouldn't be worried." 

Sakuragi pulled on his shirt. "Between Ryo-chin and Yohei I feel like I have two mothers," he said jokingly. "Well now that you've done that I need to go eat." 

Rukawa was trying to think of a reason, any reason, to stay but he couldn't think of one. "Do'aho," he said as he walked out the door and closed it behind him. 

Hanamichi sat down on his bed with a look of complete confusion on his face. It was going to be a long night. 


	4. Chapter 4

AN: If you can't tell, I took out the page long Author's Note. Kinda felt a bit weird having it in there. Regardless, as previously said, yaoi be here and I don't own the characters.

Have I mentioned lately than I am a horribly slow writer? But at least I write.

Chapter Four:

Ryota had convinced Ayako to stay after practice by telling her that he had talked to Sakuragi and that he wanted to share the conversation with her. He knew that when she agreed she thought he was going to talk about Hanamichi's recovery. He did feel guilty for tricking her like that, but he knew that if he had tried to approach her any other way that he would have been blown off.

Ryota locked up the doors and went over to where Ayako was chatting with Haruko. He felt more, more than saw, Yohei peel himself off the wall and follow behind him. He was still nervous about this confrontation but he was pretty relieved that everything would finally be out in the open.

Mitsui was hiding behind a conveniently placed tree that would keep him within hearing distance of the conversation. He felt kind of bad for eavesdropping, but he never could say no to his curiosity. If he could, he and Kogure would never have gotten together.

"So Ryota, what did Hanamichi tell you?" Ayako asked, in a slightly interested tone of voice.

Ryota glanced over at Haruko, "Haruko-san, this is kind of a personal conversation. Would you mind leaving?" he asked politely.

"If Mito-san can be here for it, so can I. If I leave he should too," she responded. She didn't like the glare that Yohei was giving Ayako, and had a bad feeling about where the conversation was headed.

Surprised by Haruko's response, Ryota stepped back until he was almost touching Yohei. "He stays."

Ryota looked over his shoulder at Yohei and motioned his head at Haruko asking if she could stay silently with his eyes.

Yohei glanced at Haruko and shrugged, "Might as well since she's such a close friend." If anyone had missed the biting sarcasm in those words it would have been Haruko.

"Thank you, Mito-sane," Haruko smiled, the sarcasm apparently lost on her.

"Now that we have that settled will you please tell us what Sakuragi said," Ayako asked a bit irritated.

"Well he didn't tell me anything about his recovery or when he was coming back, but he did give me some information about you, that he thought I might like."

"What do you mea, 'information about me'?" Ayako asked confused.

"When were you going to tell me that you're dating Akagi?" Ryota asked quietly, "And that you've been dating him for a year?"

Ayako's eyes widened and Haruko gasped. "How would Hanamichi know that," asked Haruko.

"I told him," Yohei said, standing up a bit straighter.

"You promised you wouldn't tell, Mito-san. How could you lie like that?" Haruko asked shocked.

"I'm not here to discuss him; I'm just here to get some answers and to try to sort things out. So, I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt," Ryota said, glaring at Haruko.

He turned and looked at Ayako with hurt in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me believe I even had a chance?"

"Listen, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you Ryota, but we thought that it was best not to. We were worried it would affect your game play," Ayako held her hands out in a pacifying gesture.

"My game play," Ryota was pissed. "You didn't tell me because you thought I would play bad?"

"We were trying so hard to get to the nationals, Ryota. You were too," Ayako tried to explain.

"So the nationals were more important than telling me and then wasting a year of my life trying to prove to you I was worthy?" Ryota started to shake and he wasn't sure if it was from anger or hurt.

"It wasn't like that Ryota. Maybe we should have told you, but we had no idea how you would react. It could have damaged the morale if the team," Ayako said.

"Miyagi-san, it's not exactly like you carry no blame either," Haruko said softly, "You didn't have to keep pursuing Ayako."

"Oh, I know I was a moron now, bur how was I to really know? She never told me no and she's the one that said that when I was the number one point guard in Kangawa she would go out with me. How is that my fault?" Ryota was getting really close to completely losing his temper. He was so angry that he felt like crying, so instead he clenched his fists by his side.

"What is it you want, Ryota; an apology, or for me to break up with Akagi and date you? Or would you like for me to miraculously wipe out the entire last year?" Ayako asked in exasperation.

"An apology would be nice, but meaningless coming from you right now. What I really want is for you to learn how to treat people right; especially those who you say are your friends. Because you just lost one tonight," he walked away leaving Ayako staring at his retreating back in shock.

"You're lucky I don't hit girls," Yohei said with a glare, "and you're also lucky that he doesn't mean what he said. I know he still wants to be your friend, but he's got to get over how you hurt him first. Which means you've got to prove that you're worthy of him this time," Yohei turned to follow Ryota.

"Why do you even care?" Ayako asked.

Yohei looked over his shoulder at her, "Because friends are supposed to care," he jogged away to catch up with Ryota.

Haruko put her arm around Ayako. "Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure he'll be fine. All will be forgiven in time, I'm sure."

Ayako sighed, "You were right you know. I should have told him sooner." She started walking with Haruko.

"The damage has already been done, so you can't focus on it. All you can do is look towards the future and try to repair your friendship. It's going to be hard, but fixing mistakes always are," Haruko said gently.

Mitsui stepped out from behind the tree when he knew he wouldn't be spotted. He was very surprised by the conversation he had heard. He felt really bad for Ryota, and also very angry at Akagi.

He always knew that Akagi wanted to win the nationals, but he didn't think that Akagi would take it quite that far. It pissed him off to think that anyone could treat a person like that, even if it was unintentional. What made him so angry was that it had been done intentionally.

He, himself had done worse things and it had taken the beating of his life to realize and work to change himself into a better person. With a solid thought in mind he went to pick up his Min-kun.

Yohei followed Ryota, maintaining a short distance between them. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to follow Ryota, but he had felt compelled to. He wanted to make sure that the other teen was fine with what had just happened. If he had been in Ryota's shoes he wouldn't be sure whether he was okay or not. So for now he just followed him, making sure nothing happened to him while he was thinking.

Ryota wasn't using his walk to think over what just happened, his mind was still too numb to think about it. He was in a kind of white static, like the white noise that comes on a television station after it was off the air for the night. He knew that he had to force himself to think about something, but he didn't know what to think about. He couldn't seem to grasp onto a single thought. He just kept walking, it seemed to be the only thing that his body wanted to do.

After about an hour, Yohei got fed up wit Ryota's silence. Four times he had watched Ryota nearly walking to a light post, but Yohei had drawn the line when Ryota almost crossed a busy street. Sighing he jogged the last few feet and drew even with Ryota. When he looked over and saw the blank look on Ryota's face he cursed.

This was definitely different than when he had dealt with Hanamichi's rejections. With him it had usually been anger and sadness, but he knew that this was shock. He hadn't had to deal with shock before. A couple things flashed through his mind about how to get Rota to pay attention, to wake up from whatever he was seeing or thinking.

The first thing that came to mind was punching him, which while it normally would work, he discarded it almost the second he had thought of it. He knew there was no way he could hit Ryota on purpose, even if it was for the other boy's own good.

The next idea was to kiss him, but Yohei himself wasn't ready to do that and he feared it would make Ryota's reaction to him worse.

If there was water he'd splash some on Ryota, but he didn't have any readily available. Yohei for once, was at a complete and utter loss as to what to do. He reached a hand out to put it on Ryota's shoulder and gave him a shake, thinking that maybe a hard shake would snap him out of his shock.

The second Ryota felt the weight of something on his shoulder he struck out by instinct, catching Yohei in the nose.

Yohei felt a sharp pain in his nose almost at the same time that he registered the first and the crack. The punch was hand enough to knock him down, with the back of his head hitting the ground once he landed. He blinked for a moment and then pushed himself into a kneeling position. "Holy shit, you're one strong bastard," he muttered before shaking his head to clear the slight ringing in it.

The second Ryota felt his fist connect with something, he snapped out of his daze. When he saw Yohei's head hit the pavement and heard the dull crack it made, he started moving forward. When he saw Yohei sit up he stopped and knelt down in front of him. "I'm sorry Mito-san. I didn't mean to hit you like that. I just wasn't paying attention and you shocked me. Are you all right?" he asked, his voice filled with self-loathing.

Yohei touched his nose and came away with a bit of blood, "Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it," he stood up slowly and was surprised to find his legs a bit wobbly.

"Are you sure? I did hit you really hard and your nose is bleeding and your head hit really hard and..."

"I'm fine," Yohei interrupted. "Trust me, I've had much worse than this so stop babbling." Yohei leveled an even gaze at Ryota, "Besides, you should get home before you go off in your own little world again."

"I won't," Ryota was not happy that Yohei had brought up his lapse, but at the same time he felt responsible. "My house is about five minutes from here. You might as well come with me to clean your face up."

Yohei nodded and pinched the tip of his nose to keep any more blood from falling on his shirt.

Ryota led the way to his house in silence. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him. He was acting like a completely different person and he had been doing it ever since he had talked to Hanamichi. The problem was, he didn't know which part of his conversation with Hanamichi had resulted in his strange behavior, but he knew he would have to figure it out eventually. For now though, he would wait since his brain was jumbled enough as it was.

He unlocked the door to his house and led Yohei into the kitchen, "Sit down while I get something for you to wipe up with." Ryota left Yohei wondering if he would be able to get the spots of blood out of his shirt.

Ryota came back quickly with a slightly damp wash cloth and a clean sweat shirt. Yohei held out his hand to take the wash cloth, but Ryota swatted it away. "Don't be stupid, you'd miss half the blood on your face because you can't see it." He sat down and started wiping at the blood that had already dried.

Yohei started to scowl but it quickly turned into a wince as the back of Ryota's hand brushed against the side of his nose.

Ryota saw the wince, "Sorry, but it's going to hurt for a little bit."

"I know that. It's not like this is the first time I've been punched in the face," Yohei replied, sounding a bit offended.

"No, I'm sure a tough guy like you gets punched all the time," Ryota responded while smirking.

"Shut up." Yohei responded with a grin on his face.

Ryota finished cleaning up the last of the dried blood and handed Yohei the clean shirt. "Thanks for keeping an eye out for me earlier. I didn't know that I would react that badly." He stepped back, giving Yohei enough space to unbutton his uniform shirt, slip it off and put on the sweat shirt Ryota had given him.

"I wasn't expecting a reaction quite like the one you had," Yohei said, his voice muffled slightly while he pulled the sweater over his head, "but it wasn't the worst I've ever seen."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Ryota started pacing around the room.

"You're nervous around me," Yohei noted, watching the pacing.

Ryota nodded.

"It's because of what Hanamichi told you."

Ryota nodded again and looked at Yohei. "I just don't know how to deal with knowing you feel that way about me...on top of everything that's happened. I've never even thought about guys that way before. It's uncomfortable."

Yohei stood and walked over until he was directly in front of Ryota, effectively blocking his path. "I didn't mean for him to tell you and put you in this situation. You not being interested in me isn't the end of the world."

"It's not like that," Ryota snapped, his eyes lighting up in slight anger. "It's just that you're male and if you really think about it, we barely know each other." Ryota was feeling frustrated because he couldn't find the words to say what he really wanted to. He actually was almost having difficulties forming the thoughts of how he wanted to say it.

"Ryota, calm down," Yohei said pitching his voice to be as understanding as he could. "Not many people would know how to react in this situation. I completely understand that it's not something you've thought about before. I'm not looking for an answer or anything. I love you and if you only want to be friends, I ca accept that."

"How do you know that? How can I trust that friendship will be enough?"

"For starters, by being my friend you'll learn to trust me. You already do to an extent or we wouldn't be having this conversation. And to answer how I know I can handle it?" Yohei grinned, "I used to have a crush on Hanamichi and I confessed to him. He reacted badly at the time, but we're still best friends."

Ryota thought that over. "All right, I think I would like being your friend," he said with a grin.

Yohei grinned back at him and they shook hands. 


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Another chapter, and it didn't take me nearly as long as last time. Of course having 6 projects at once also means I don't update some things as fast as I should. Thanks for reading, and remember, like all writer's, I enjoy reviews. Again, I'm not one with the beta'ing, though I do give a brief scouring before posting. It's amazing how difficult it is for me to write this fic. Hard to maintain interest.

Disclaimer: I still don't own the characters. Ain't life a bitch?

Chapter Five:

Mitsui took a deep breath as he stood outside the Akagi household door. After eavesdropping on the conversation between Ryota and Ayako he was having problems controlling his temper. In all reality, he knew he shouldn't be here, but he had promised Kogure that he would pick him up from studying.

It wasn't something he could put off, he just new that if he saw Akagi he would probably lose his temper. He sighed and shook his head and then knocked on the door. Hopefully he would be able to settle for a few sarcastic comments after bringing the situation out into the open.

It was opened a few moments later by Akagi's mother and he bowed politely before removing his shoes and stepping inside.

"I think they're almost done studying," Akagi's mother said, ushering him up the stairs towards Akagi's room. "Feel free to go on up."

Mitsui hid a grimace and started to politely decline, when Kogure popped his head out of Akagi's door. "I thought I heard someone. Come in Mitsui, we're almost finished."

Knowing that there was no way that he would actually be able to escape now Mitsui obediently followed Kogure into the room and shut the door behind him.

"We should just be a few minutes," Kogure said, squeezing Mitsui's hand before letting go and going back to the desk where Akagi was working on a few physics equations.

Mitsui nodded and leaned back against the door, while Kogure sat back down and checked the problem that Akagi had just finished.

"Did you have a good time helping the team practice?" Kogure asked, while correcting something on the paper.

"Yeah," Mitsui said, looking at the floor.

"Has there been any improvement?" Akagi asked, as he worked on the next problem.

"No. There probably won't be any improvement until Sakuragi and Rukawa get back, if then even," Mitsui said, finally raising his gaze so that it fell on the other two.

"What do you mean, even then?" Kogure asked, looking up from where he had just finished correcting Akagi's last physics problem.

"It's probably nothing I should talk about, but fair warning, I wouldn't cross Miyagi soon if I was you, Akagi," Mitsui said.

"Why would I want or need to avoid Miyagi?" Akagi asked being drawn into the conversation.

"Oh I don't know," Mitsui started sarcastically, "Maybe the fact that you and Ayako have been pretty much lying to him for the past year."

Akagi's pencil stilled on the paper as the words sunk in. "I wasn't lying to him," Akagi said in his defense.

"Not telling him and sneaking around are pretty damn close, Akagi. How the hell could you do that to a team mate, to someone you consider a friend? Was getting to the nationals that important to you? Was getting to the nationals important enough that you could possibly ruin the friendships that you made with others?" Mitsui pushed off of the door he was leaning against and clenched his fist. "You shouldn't have done that Akagi."

Kogure stood quickly and put himself in Mitsui's line of sight, slightly blocking his view of Akagi. "Calm down, Hisashi. It's not your place to become involved in this."

Mitsui looked at Kogure. "Not my place to become involved in this? What the hell are you on about? He's my friend!"

Kogure put his hands on Mitsui's shoulders. "Akagi is your friend too."

Realization dawned on Mitsui as he shrugged Kogure's hands off his shoulders, "You knew about this. You knew about this all along and you didn't say anything. How could you, Kogure?"

Kogure looked Mitsui in the eye, "Because it wasn't my place to do it then, and it isn't my place to do it now. Did I like or agree with it, of course not, but I was asked to not interfere so I didn't."

"You're an asshole sometimes. Always playing both sides," Mitsui said, glaring at Kogure.

"Let's talk about it later, please," Kogure asked Mitsui softly, not wanting to continue the argument in front of Akagi.

Mitsui gave a brief nod and put his hand on the doorknob. I'll be waiting outside. Try not to take too long. We need to talk."

Kogure sighed as Mitsui shut the door behind him and reluctantly went to gather his things.

"He shouldn't have accused you like that," Akagi said, putting down his pencil to help Kogure gather his papers. "I don't know why you put up with his attitude."

"He doesn't have an attitude," Kogure said. Then he thought about it and chuckled. "Okay, so he does have an attitude, it's one of his qualities. Besides," Kogure looked knowingly at Akagi, "he had every right to say those things. I didn't hear any words come out of his mouth that were not at least a little bit true."

Akagi looked uncomfortable, but didn't say anything.

"You know you're going to have to find a way to fix this, don't you?" Kogure said, with a small amount of sympathy in his voice.

Akagi sighed and nodded. "I know, Kogure. I'll figure something out. In the mean time, you should probably go comfort your drama queen."

Kogure rolled his eyes at Akagi. "I hope he never hears you say that about him. I wouldn't stop him from hitting you." Putting his bag over his shoulder he gave a wave and walked out.

There was an uncomfortable silence between Kogure and Mitsui as they walked in the direction of Kogure's house. Like Akagi, he was still staying at home while going to school. It was a bit of a commute on the trains to get to school each day, but since he wasn't dependent financially, Kogure didn't have much choice in the matter.

Kogure tried to think of different ways to break the unresolved air of discontent that seemed to be radiating off of Mitsui, but couldn't come up with anything. So he did what he normally did when Mitsui was upset with something that he or someone else did, he waited for the inevitable explosion.

They hadn't been walking more than 15 minutes, when Mitsui let out a loud breath and rubbed his hands over his face. Kogure knew that his boyfriend was finally calm enough to talk about the situation and listen to his side of things.

"How could you go along with that charade, Kogure?"

Kogure knew he was in trouble, since the only time Mitsui used his last name was in public with others around, or when he was upset with him. "It wasn't like that," Kogure defended himself. "What would you have done? Akagi is my best friend, yes Ryota is my friend too, but he's not my best friend. I've told Akagi before that he should come clean, but he wanted to wait. Once I found out I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. You know I can't break my promises."

Mitsui sighed, knowing that what Kogure said was true, but still, "You shouldn't have made the promise in the first place, Min. It was a stupid promise to make."

"Just like when you quit basketball?" Kogure mused, glad that Mitsui was already back to using his pet name.

Mitsui looked at Kogure from the corner of his eye. "Not quite, but still rather stupid of you. I'm worried about how it will affect Miyagi."

"Well, how did you find out about it?" Kogure asked, curious.

Mitsui relayed the story of how Ryota and Yohei had confronted Ayako and the reactions that had happened, "And then he walked away. Yohei said a few words and took off after him." He shrugged.

"Well, if Yohei is with him, he should be fine for now. Yohei won't let him do anything stupid," Kogure mused.

Mitsui found himself nodding. He had great respect for Yohei, more so than he did for a lot of people. It might have been because of the help he had provided him and Sakuragi in the past, or it might have been the way he was always there, leading people with support, but it really didn't matter. There was something about Yohei that was evident. If he cared about someone, no matter how little, he would do what needed to be done to protect that person.

"I guess you're right," he said reaching over to grab Kogure's hand as they turned the corner onto Kogure's street, "But I still can't help being a bit worried. Miyagi doesn't seem the type to be strong mentally, or he would have given up on Ayako a long time ago."

Kogure didn't say anything back, choosing instead to just squeeze Mitsui's hand.

* * *

Friday had come and gone and Yohei wondered why Hanamichi had not returned his call. True to his word, Yohei had called Hanamichi on Friday afternoon, to talk with him and find out what the doctor had said. However, Hanamichi had not been in, so Yohei had left a message for him at the receptionist desk.

When he woke on Saturday, he stayed in that day, waiting for Hanamichi's call back. By that afternoon, he had still not received a call so he called again. Again there was no answer so he left another message and began to worry a bit.

By Monday morning he had called six times, trying to get a hold of the red head and to his dismay he still hadn't been able to reach him, or had been called back. He left one final message before he left for school that day, telling his mother to call the school if Hanamichi called. His mother, understanding how important this was to him, told him that she would.

After classes he had not received a call from his mom, so he called home hoping that perhaps she had just forgotten. When she told him that Hanamichi had not called he became frantic. He had no way of going to see and was at a loss as to what to do. He thought desperately, trying to think of away to contact him when he realized that someone else could do it for him. Rukawa.

He hurried to the gymnasium and once there, immediately searched for Ryota's small form. It didn't take long, as he spotted him with the other players in what looked to be a meeting. He hurried in that direction, already starting to call out to Ryota.

Ryota had noticed Yohei enter the gym and had seen him make a beeline toward the meeting. It perplexed Ryota greatly since Yohei normally went into the bleacher seats and just quietly observed practice. Ryota knew that he was coming over to talk to him, since there was no one else on the team that Yohei would want to talk to. He was already breaking away from the meeting when Yohei called out to him.

Ignoring the whispers and the glare that Ayako was giving him, he hurried over and met Yohei half way.

"What's wrong?" Ryota asked as soon as he was close enough that their conversation wouldn't carry. He had never seen Yohei act with such a small amount of composure. Even in the middle of a fight he seemed composed. As much as it intrigued Ryota, it worried him a little as well. Whatever was wrong had to be something big.

Almost incoherently Yohei started. It had been a long time since he was this worried, and his was scared for his best friend, which was why he was panicking instead of thinking rationally.

"I need your help trying to get in touch with Rukawa," Yohei said, getting straight to the point, but not the reasoning behind it.

"What?" Ryota said confused. He couldn't figure out why Yohei would need to contact Rukawa. "Why?"

"I can't get in touch with Hanamichi. I have to get in touch with Hanamichi."

"Calm down," Ryota snapped, not used to seeing Yohei like this and not liking it one bit. "You're more controlled than this. Tell me what's going on. Why do you need to get in touch with Hanamichi?"

"I've been trying to reach him since Friday. I've had to have left at least eight messages for him. He never answers and he hasn't returned my calls." Yohei wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Ryota the entire truth as to why he was worried. He didn't know if Hanamichi wanted other people to know his secrets.

"Didn't he have an appointment with the doctors' on Friday?" Ryota asked, still trying to figure out what the huge problem was.

"Yes, he did. I was supposed to call him to see how things went. He hasn't answered since then and I'm afraid that he might have gotten bad news."

"Maybe if he did get bad news, he's just trying to deal with it before he talks to you," Ryota said rationally.

Yohei looked meaningfully at Ryota. "Hanamichi doesn't deal well in those types of situations, especially if he's isolated." He shook his head, "I can't tell you everything Ryota, it's not my place to. All I can really tell you is that I'm very worried that my best friend might not be thinking rationally. Isn't that enough?" he asked pleadingly.

Ryota believed that Yohei was serious and so he nodded his head, motioning for Yohei to follow him as he headed back to the group. This would need to be done delicately, because Ryota knew that whatever was worrying Yohei would need to be kept silent. Perhaps he could just talk to Ayako and Anzai-sensei keeping it less public.

"Ayako, can we talk to you please?" Ryota asked, not looking directly at her. In actuality, this was the first time he had spoken directly to her since he had confronted her.

Ayako knew how upset with her Ryota was, and so while she was still angry at practice being interrupted, followed Ryota and Yohei quietly over to the bench.

"What's this about, Ryota and why is he here?" she asked, gesturing at Yohei.

"It doesn't matter why he's here, we just have a favor to ask you." Ryota was glad that Yohei was being quiet, because for some reason, Ayako seemed to be angry at him. It probably had to do with the fact that it had been Yohei who had spilled the beans to Sakuragi, who had spilled the beans to him, which caught Ayako in her lie, or something similar. It wasn't something that Ryota wanted to dwell on right now, since he still wasn't over the whole incident to begin with.

"Apparently Sakuragi had a meeting with his doctors' on Friday and Mito-san has been trying to reach him since then, with no luck. He's left numerous messages all of which have not been returned. Yohei feels that perhaps Sakuragi received some bad news from the doctors', but we can't contact him to find out," Ryota said, still not looking at Ayako.

"Well if he did, then he probably just needs time to calm down before he talks to anyone," Ayako said. "I only have the hospital number, like everyone else, so I can't contact him if he doesn't want to be contacted either.

"Mito-san feels it's very important that someone contact Hanamichi," he looked at Yohei with a question in his eyes and saw a slight nod of permission given. He continued, "We were wondering if you had a way to get in touch with Rukawa?"

Ayako raised her eyebrows and stared at the two boys. "Why would you want to get in touch with Rukawa if you're looking for Sakuragi?"

For this part Ryota shrugged and looked at Yohei.

Sighing Yohei looked Ayako square in the eyes, "Rukawa has been to see Hanamichi more than once." He gave her a pointed look before he continued, "If he knows that there might be something wrong, he'll definitely go and check."

Ayako looked confused, but Ryota's eyes widened and he gave a startled laugh before saying, "So that's why Rukawa looked like he wanted to beat the crap out of me when he saw that I had a fight with Hanamichi!"

Yohei smirked a little, finding the thought of an overprotective Rukawa amusing.

Ayako looked between the two boys for a moment before the truth dawned on her. Her lips formed a little 'o' of surprise, before she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. There was one thing she needed to know though, before she would give out the number.

"Mito-kun, is it really necessary to go that far to check up on Sakuragi? Why are you so worried?"

Yohei grimaced and avoided looking at Ryota or Ayako. "Yes it's necessary and it's not my place to tell you why. All I can tell you is that it is important. Hanamichi hides a lot of things under his mask."

Ayako studied Yohei for a moment. She was still pissed off at him for butting into business that wasn't his own, but he had never treated her with anything less than respect, even on the night of the confrontation. "You've been friends with Sakuragi a long time, haven't you?"

Yohei nodded, "Since he was eight years old, well before his father died."

Ayako sighed, but nodded. "Alright, let me go get my phone. In the mean time, find something to do with the rest of the team, Ryota."

Ayako left to get her phone from her bag. She knew that she was doing this favor partially because it was a good way for her to start her reconciliation with Ryota, but also because she could sense that something wasn't right. That Yohei had good reason to be worried.

By the time she returned with her phone, Ryota and Yohei were sitting down on the bench, watching as the rest of the team ran drills. She sat down with them and pressed the speed dial button, which would connect her to Rukawa's cell phone. As team manager, it was her obligation to be able to contact any of the members in case there were extra practices or any emergencies came up.

To her amazement Rukawa picked up the phone on the first ring, "Do'aho?"

Ayako rolled her eyes. Apparently Yohei had been correct. Especially since it seemed that Rukawa was waiting for Sakuragi to call.

"No, Rukawa-kun, its Ayako."

There was silence on the phone line for about thirty seconds before Rukawa asked, "What?"

"Listen, I don't know what's going on, but Yohei wants to speak to you about Sakuragi. He seems a bit worried. I'm going to give the phone to him, okay?"

Silence greeted her question, so she just handed the phone over. Yohei glanced at the two as he held the phone, knowing that his conversation was going to be overheard. He sighed, but started talking to Rukawa since he knew that there was no way to stop the others from listening in. "Rukawa-kun?"

Ryota was watching Yohei closely as he took the phone. He was surprised when Yohei wasn't able to do more than say Rukawa's name before he stopped talking.

Yohei seemed to be listening to the call intensely, which left Ryota in awe since it meant that Rukawa was the one doing all the talking. After a few minutes Yohei began to talk.

"Yes, I know. I've been calling him since Friday. Did you go by to check on him?"

He listened for a moment before seemingly interrupting Rukawa. "When was the last time you saw him? What do you mean there was something different about his room?"

"What?" Yohei stood reflexively as he almost shouted the word. "What do you mean his pills were gone? Wait, how do you know about those?"

Ryota could tell that Yohei wasn't even aware or simply didn't care that they could easily hear his conversation. Whatever Rukawa had said seemed to multiply his stress level in the span of a few seconds. Ryota wondered what these pills were that they were talking about.

Yohei pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "You have to go find him Rukawa. I don't care what you have to do, but just go look for him. If his pills are gone it's either because he ran out or," Yohei swallowed, "or he took them all. How full was the bottle when you saw it?"

Yohei sat down limply, all his energy leaving him in a rush. "Shit," he said softly, his voice full of fear.

Now Ryota was getting worried. From what he was hearing of the conversation, perhaps Yohei had a right to be as worried as he seemed. Ryota was starting to worry too, especially since he understood what the conversation implied.

Ayako was quickly turning a pale grey as the implications of the conversation dawned on her.

"Keep your cell phone on you Rukawa. Call me if you find him. I'm going to try and find a way to get down there. If he's in his right mind and lucid, keep talking to him. Do whatever you need to do to find out what is going on. Since he's not in his room, you should check any parks in the area and check the beach carefully. He likes to be active when he's upset."

He listened for another moment before hanging up the phone and handing it back to a stunned Ayako. Standing up, he quietly thanked them both and headed out of the gym.

Ayako and Ryota looked at each other. Ryota was of two minds. He really wanted to follow Yohei, first because he was worried about him and second because he wanted to be of some support to him, to repay him for all the support he had been given. He got a weird feeling in his stomach seeing Yohei in the state he was in. He had enough money for them both to easily take the train to go up to the hospital.

He face hardened and he was about to tell Ayako that he was leaving practice early when she said, "You better go with him. He trusts you more than anyone else here. Besides," she looked at him with a bit of understanding, "he needs you more right now than we need you. I can handle having the team run drills and such today."

"Thank you," he said quietly as he hurried into the locker room to quickly change back into his school clothes.

It couldn't have taken him more than three minutes to change and throw his things in his bag. Ignoring the confused stares he was receiving from the rest of the team, he hurried out of the gym and looked around the area for Yohei. He didn't expect to spot him right away, so was surprised when he saw that Yohei had barely managed to make it as far as the school gates.

Using the speed he was so well known for, he quickly caught up to Yohei. "I have enough money for us to take a train up there if it's that important to you, Mito-san," he said without preamble.

Yohei mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?" Ryota asked, not hearing what Yohei said.

"Don't worry about it. I'll find a way to get there. I don't want to use your money since I don't know when I can pay you back." Yohei said, looking off to the side.

Ryota put a comforting hand on Yohei's back. "Don't worry about that. My family has plenty of money, and the cause is definitely worth it. Besides," something in his voice made Yohei look at him, "I don't like to see you this stressed out and worried. You're not like yourself and it freaks me out. Maybe if you go see with your own eyes that Hanamichi is fine then you'll calm down."

Yohei nodded and Ryota watched, amazed as Yohei visibly rebuilt himself, seeming to gain back his collected demeanor now that he was able to actually do something other than worried.

It was at that moment that Ryota saw who Yohei really was and what defined him as a person. Yohei worried about others more than he worried about himself. Yohei tended to be a mother hen, more so than Kogure, but went about it in a different manner. A day probably didn't go by when Yohei didn't do something nice for someone, even if he didn't know them. Even though Yohei was considered a ruffian, he was probably only that way because of protecting others.

It was like a door had opened in Ryota's mind and through that door he could see what it was like to be so good. If he thought about it, wasn't that what Yohei had been doing all this time? Yohei liked him, but didn't want to pressure him, so kept silent even though it had to hurt. Yohei spoke up, when no one else would have, to stop Ryota from being even more hurt in the long run. A little pain compared to a lot of pain.

Yohei weighed the rights and wrongs of everything he did, and even if the rights didn't outweigh the wrongs of society, he still did it because to him it was the right thing to do. Yohei always had a direction that he moved in, and Ryota wanted to be a part of that and learn how to do it too.

The first step in doing so he realized, would be to seriously analyze his feelings for the other boy to figure out exactly where he stood.

"The first thing we should do," Yohei said, tearing Ryota from his thoughts, "Is buy the train tickets. There should be a train going out in a few hours and we need to make sure we're on it. Once we have the tickets, we'll probably want to get overnight bags, since there is no way we would be back by the morning," here Yohei paused in his thinking and looked at Ryota. "You don't have a problem with skipping school tomorrow, do you? We probably wouldn't make it back in time, even if we caught the earliest train."

Ryota didn't even have to think of an answer to that question. He was being given a chance to miss school with a good reason behind it? "Missing school isn't a problem. My parents are out of town so even if the school calls, I'll get the message before they do."

"You're parents are out of town? I thought they just worked long hours?" Yohei said looking at Ryota. He remembered their conversation from the previous night and realized how lonely Ryota must get sometimes. It was no wonder he had a tendency to get into trouble.

Ryota nodded, "Yeah, there's a medical seminar taking place in Beijing. They both flew over to China to attend it."

Yohei whistled, imaging how much money that must of cost, before getting back on track. "All right then, we'll go get the tickets now, if you have that much money on you, and then go grab some things before catching the train. Does that sound all right to you?"

Again, Ryota was surprised at how quickly Yohei's mind grasped things when he wasn't panicking. It was probably why Yohei was always at the right place at the right time. "Sure, that's sounds like a plan."

They hurried off to make the most of the time they had left available in order to get everything done in time.


End file.
